We are moving in a couple of weeks, and I am actively looking for ways to use up the canned goods in my pantry so we don’t have to pay to haul them 1,000 miles north.

At a recent Harvest Faire, we sampled some vegan black bean brownie bites that were really delicious. Ever since, I’ve been thinking that this would be a great way to use up a can of black beans from my pantry. So I googled a recipe, found one that looked great, and made a few minor adaptations. I am delighted by the results!

These brownie bites are decadent and gooey. You’d never in a million years guess that they are gluten-free and packed full of black beans!!

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Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s Zucchini Spelt Muffins, from her Vegan Brunch cookbook, have long been a staple in our household. We make them almost weekly, and Zander eats them by the handful (we use a mini-muffin tin, because he loves the idea of eating five or six muffins at a time, rather than one or two). I affectionately refer to Zander as “The Muffin Thief,” because no matter where I put these muffins in the kitchen, he will find and eat half a dozen of them when I’m not looking. He absolutely loves this moniker, by the way. ;)

The other day, I only had one cup of grated zucchini (the recipe calls for two cups), but I wanted to make a full batch of muffins, so I decided to try tossing in a cup of grated carrots along with the zucchini. The result was fabulous!!! The Muffin Thief now prefers these to our old standby, and they’re even prettier, with the flecks of orange and green.

Combine the almond milk and ground flax seeds in a measuring cup and mix vigorously with a fork. Mix in the vinegar and set aside to curdle.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices. Make a well in the center and add the milk mixture, canola oil, brown sugar, and vanilla. Stir to combine.

Fold in the zucchini, carrots, and raisins.

Use an ice cream scoop to pour the batter into the muffin tin (NOTE: I use a mini-scoop for my mini-muffins); it should almost fill the entire tin. Bake for 25 to 28 minutes for regular-sized muffins or 12-15 minutes for mini-muffins, until the muffin tops are firm. A knife or toothpick inserted through a muffin may still come out steamy, because of the zucchini, but it’s still worth testing to make sure no batter is sticking.

Zucchini makes these muffins so moist, be sure to let them cool in the tins for at least 20 minutes before removing them so that the tops don’t break off. (NOTE: I’d like to see someone try to convince The Muffin Thief to wait this long for his muffins. I have always removed my muffins from the tin promptly without any problem.) Transfer the muffins to a wire rack to cool completely.

NOTE: These muffins freeze really well. I know this because freezing half a batch as soon as they’ve cooled is the only way to make them last longer than a day or two in my household. Zander will find and eat them if they’re on the counter or in the fridge, but for whatever reason, he leaves the freezer alone. You can pull a couple (or more) muffins out of the freezer the night before for breakfast, or pack them in a lunchbox first thing in the morning and they’ve thawed by lunchtime. 15 seconds in the microwave will also do the trick. :)

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These subtly sweet gluten-free oat bars may be the most popular baked good I have made all year, and they’re incredibly easy–not to mention healthy enough to feel good about serving for breakfast!

I love that the bottom and top layers are exactly the same mixture. This is the only recipe I know of with a crumble topping that does not require different mixtures for the base layer and the crumble.

For the past 24 hours, Zander has consistently requested these bars for breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner. He is completely obsessed. We took some to the garden this morning to share with our friends, and I had to hold Zander’s hands back to keep him from shoveling them all into his mouth before anyone else could take one.

My favorite question was, “Mom, how did you make the purple stuff taste sooooo good???” The purple stuff, of course, is the chia seed jam, which I have decided is good enough to replace store-bought jam moving forward. I can’t wait to experiment with some other flavors!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line an 8-inch square pan with parchment paper.

For the jam: In a medium pot, stir together the berries, maple syrup, and chia seeds until well combined. Bring to a low boil and reduce heat to medium. Simmer, uncovered, for about 10-15 minutes, stirring frequently, until the berries break down and the mixture thickens slightly. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and into the freezer for about 15-20 minutes, until cool.

For the oat bars: In a small mug, mix together the chia seeds and water. Set aside for about 5 minutes until thickened.

In a large bowl, stir together the melted oil, maple syrup, brown rice syrup, and vanilla. When the chia egg has thickened, stir that in too.

One by one, stir in the rolled oats, almond flour, oat flour, baking soda, and salt until the mixture comes together. It will be quite sticky, but this is normal.

Spoon 2/3 of the oat mixture into the prepared pan. Place a piece of parchment paper on top of the dough and press it down to spread it out evenly. Use a pastry roller to roll it out smooth into the corners. I repeat: the dough will be very sticky!

When the chia seed jam has thickened and cooled, pour all of it on top of the oat mixture and spread it out evenly.

Take the remaining 1/3 of the oat dough and crumble it evenly on top of the chia seed jam.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, uncovered, until the topping is lightly golden. Check after 20 minutes and if it’s starting to brown, cover the top with tin foil for the remaining 5-10 minutes of baking.

Place pan on a cooling rack for 20-30 minutes and then carefully lift out the square and place directly onto the cooling rack until completely cooled. Slice into squares.

Store leftovers in the fridge or freezer.

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Last night’s dinner was yet another idea found in a Whole Foods Market coupon booklet–a quick and easy way to make minestrone soup. I chopped up the fresh veggies for our soup the night before and stored them in the fridge, but you could “cheat” even more if you wanted to dump in a bag of frozen veggies instead.

If using fresh veggies, wash and chop your veggies (to save prep time on a busy weeknight, you can do this the night before and store them in an airtight container in the fridge until ready to use).

Rinse and drain kidney beans, and dump them into the container with your veggies.

While boiling your pasta according to the instructions on the package, dump all of the other ingredients into a separate large pot and cook (covered) on medium-high until the veggies are tender. Depending on how thick they’re sliced, this will take about 15-20 minutes for fresh veggies, and probably a lot less time for frozen, pre-cooked veggies.

When your pasta is done cooking, drain it and set it aside until the veggies are tender. Mix the pasta into your soup at the last minute, just before serving. Such an easy weeknight meal!

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A few days ago, I mentioned that I was going to try and veganize a Whole Foods Market recipe for mac ‘n cheese “lunch muffins.” As it turns out, I didn’t have to, because someone else had done all of the work for me! I found a great recipe by Your Vegan Mom and gave it a trial run tonight after dinner. Success!

I made minestrone soup for dinner tonight, so I started by simply cooking some extra pasta and setting aside 2 cups of it for the mac ‘n cheese. This dish was so easy to make that I was able to whip it all together and pop it into the oven while Zander was still in the bathtub. He is going to be over the moon tomorrow when he finds these in his snackbox for preschool!

Now that I know how wonderfully this recipe works, I intend to play around with it a bit in the future, adding yummy extras like chopped broccoli, spinach, mushrooms, green peas, carrots, veggie meat, etc. Not all of these ingredients at once, of course. ;)

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a muffin pan, or line with unbleached paper liners.

Combine all of the ingredients for the Eggy Mixture in a high-speed blender until smooth.

Pour the Eggy Mixture into a large bowl on top of the pasta and shredded cheese and stir until well-combined.

Spoon into prepared muffin pan and bake at 375 degrees F for 20-25 minutes, until the edges are nicely browned and the middles are firm.

I’m banking on the fact that these will freeze well and have transferred half of them directly to the freezer. If for some reason, they do not thaw/reheat well after freezing, I will update this post to let you know.

Below is a picture of the super-bland-looking mixture in the muffin pan before baking. At this point, I found myself wishing I had some panko bread crumbs to sprinkle on top with melted vegan butter for a little crunch and color. Then I realized how funny that was, given that I had used gluten-free pasta. ;)

The good news is that in the end, they don’t look bland at all! They have a nice rich color, and if anything, after only 20 minutes in the oven, I think I could have left them in for the full 25 to brown a bit more on top. Maybe next time.

Next time, I’m not even going to bother with the paper liners, as they slid right off of the mac ‘n cheese bites when I pulled them from the muffin pan. I love how perfectly these little bites held their form!

And finally, here is what they look like on the inside–ooey, gooey, cheezy goodness that is a cross between quiche and baked mac ‘n cheese. Alex gobbled one up before they had a chance to cool and gave it a thumbs up. Yay!!

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Years ago, before Zander was born, Alex and I fell in love with the Tuscan Hummus at California Pizza Kitchen. Alex searched online and found a great copycat recipe by CD Kitchen, and we have been making it for ourselves at home ever since.

For tonight’s dinner, I’ll be serving this hummus along with oven-warmed whole-wheat pita bread triangles and the most gorgeous fresh organic corn-on-the-cob from the farmers’ market. I sent some hummus with Zander to pre-school this morning along with a sliced organic cucumber for his snack, and he pretty much licked the container clean.

This is such a delicious and simple dish, and I love that you can make it quickly with canned beans/tomatoes and a jar of tahini, or you can make a “slow” version like I did for this batch.

First, I cooked about 1 1/2 cups of organic dried cannellini beans in 6 cups of water in the crock pot on high for 5 hours, then drained and put the beans in the fridge overnight. When the time came to make the actual hummus, I discovered that we were out of tahini–gasp! So I googled how to make tahini from scratch (so easy!) and made my own by combining 1 cup of raw organic sesame seeds (you can use toasted if you prefer) with about 2 Tbsp olive oil and a bit of water in the blender. Once I had achieved the right consistency, I simply poured the rest of the ingredients into the blender, and voila, hummus!

One final note: it’s better if you let the hummus sit for at least a few hours before eating; I like to make it the night before.

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Last week, while perusing the Whole Foods coupon booklet, I saw an idea for miniature mac ‘n cheese bites that sounds like a great use for leftover mac ‘n cheese. I plan to try and veganize that one later, but while on the Whole Foods Market recipe page, I came across another adorable idea–oatmeal-on-the-go–and I decided to try that one right away.

The original recipe doesn’t call for any sweetener whatsoever, but I added some maple syrup, which gave it just a touch of sweetness in addition to the carrots and raisins. Zander has been gobbling these up 5 or 6 at a time. He really enjoys them!

Any time I make mini-muffins (we make at least one batch per week, usually zucchini raisin spelt muffins) or in this case, something resembling a mini-muffin, I automatically store half of them in the freezer. If I didn’t, one of two things would happen. Zander would either eat them all in one day, or if I managed to prevent that, half of the muffins would get stale before they could be eaten. This way, Zander can eat the first half while they are fresh, and I can pull out a few for a snack as needed and either let them thaw on the counter or warm them up for 15-30 seconds in the microwave.

Here is the recipe:

CARROT RAISIN OATMEAL BITES*original recipe by Whole Foods Market; adapted slightly to veganize and based on what was in my pantry

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly coat a 24-cup mini-muffin pan with spray oil, or use muffin liners.

Mix ground flax seeds with cold water and let it sit to congeal.

In a large bowl, stir together oats, walnuts, raisins, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together almond milk, vanilla, and maple syrup until evenly blended. Add “flax eggs” to the liquid mixture, then stir in carrots. Add carrot mixture to oat mixture and stir until evenly blended.

Spoon into muffin cups using a small ice cream scoop. Bake until firm and golden brown on top, approximately 15-20 minutes.

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Lately, I have been sort of addicted to turmeric smoothies. I drink them every single day!

I had no idea how delicious these would taste, but I did know that turmeric is helpful with inflammation and has seemingly countless other health benefits. So when my friend, Lynn, gifted me some of her beautiful fresh turmeric along with a smoothie recipe, I was happy to give it a try.

The timing was perfect, as I am currently recovering from an intercostal muscle strain which requires rest, daily icing of the muscles, and oral anti-inflammatories. I am also currently three days into a two-week juice and smoothie fast, and it’s great to be able to add some variety into my otherwise monotonous repertoire of green juices and smoothies.

I took one of these smoothies to a friend yesterday, and she immediately asked for the recipe. Zander loves them, too! I usually double the recipe to make enough for both of us. This morning, I poured some leftover smoothie into a popsicle mold for Zander, so he’ll have turmeric popsicles for an afternoon snack. He is going to be thrilled!

Optional: (I haven’t tried adding any of these yet, but you may want to!)

1 Tbsp chia seeds or chia seed gel

1/4 avocado

1/2 cup fresh or frozen pineapple chunks

1 Tbsp coconut shreds/flakes

1/2 Tbsp maca

Instructions:

Place all of the ingredients into a high-speed blender and blend for around 30-45 seconds or until nice and smooth. If you don’t have a very powerful blender and your coconut oil is in liquid form, you might want to blend everything except the coconut oil first, then drizzle it on and blend for another 5-10 seconds to avoid clumping.

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I’m sorry that I never take the time to properly plate/photograph my food. On most days, it feels like a huge accomplishment just to remember to grab my iPhone and snap a quick photo of something before it gets gobbled up. But please believe me when I say that although this may not be pretty, it tasted really delicious! Another great recipe by Angela Liddon of Oh She Glows. As I always say, if you haven’t already done so, buy her cookbook! You will not be disappointed. Here’s the recipe:

Place the cashews in a bowl and add enough water to cover. Soak for at least 2 hours, or overnight. Drain and rinse the cashews. Place them in a high-speed blender along with the almond milk and blend until smooth and creamy. Set aside.

Boil water and cook pasta according to instructions on package.

In a large cast iron skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Saute onions and garlic for 5-10 minutes, until translucent. Add tomatoes and spinach and continue cooking for 7-10 minutes over medium-high heat, until the spinach is wilted.

Stir in the cashew cream, nutritional yeast (if using), basil, tomato paste, oregano, salt, and pepper, and cook for another 5-10 minutes, or until heated through.

Drain the pasta and add it to the sauce. Stir to combine well, and cook for a few minutes until heated through. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste, and serve immediately. Enjoy!!

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In addition to our favorite no-bake granola bars, Zander and I have been going through a lot of trail mix lately. We keep some in the car at all times for post-workout, swimming, or playground energy boosts. I like to buy the ingredients separately in bulk, store them in large glass jars, and mix them as needed using my 1/4 cup metal scoop for quick grab-and-go snacks. I find that a small handful (often consumed while driving from one destination to the other) goes a really long way!

I leave the trail mix in a low cabinet (see photo below) that Zander can easily reach so he can pour himself a bowl whenever he likes. We always use raw, organic, unsulfured, unsalted nuts, seeds, and fruits (scroll down for note on recent Costco discovery!). When I can find them at a reasonable price, I prefer to buy sprouted nuts that have been soaked and dehydrated. Maybe one day, I’ll buy another dehydrator and be able to do this myself.

Here’s our favorite blend (although if it were up to Zander, this would be 100% cashews, or maybe 90% cashews and 10% Brazil nuts–he likes these even better than the dried fruits):

Below is a photo of the trail mix in Zander’s snack cabinet. The larger jar behind the trail mix contains organic spelt pretzels. Zander has a similar space on the bottom shelf of the fridge from which he can pull things like fresh fruit, homemade granola bars, carrot sticks, or cucumber slices when he is hungry. :)

I have also just discovered this organic, unsulfured, apple-juice-sweetened blend from Costco, which is available for a fraction of the price of these items in the bulk section, and as soon as we run out of our current trail mix, we’re going to start adding this to the other nuts and seeds instead of the bulk dried cranberries and blueberries. Bonus: there are already pumpkin seeds in this mix, too, so we will no longer need to buy those separately!